A craving to control

Progressives are the unintended consequence of the collision of ideas offered by Karl Marx and those of Adam Smith – the product of pure communism colliding with laissez-faire capitalism. Free-market capitalists see government regulations as a detriment to profit; progressives see government regulations as the way to control the behavior of both profit-makers and largess-takers.

For most of the last century, progressives in both major parties have controlled the federal government. The current administration’s quest for control exceeds even the remarkable efforts of the Wilson and Roosevelt administrations. The Obama administration – supported by progressive allies in Congress – intends to control virtually every facet of human activity.

Capitalists were appalled when Obama took over General Motors; progressives, socialists and communists applauded. Capitalists could not believe that Obama’s czar had the audacity, and the power, to dictate the salary of top executives of companies that took federal bailout money; progressives, socialists and communists danced with glee.

Ordinary citizens stood up and screamed “hell no” to Obamacare. Obama ignored them. He twisted arms and Senate rules to ram it through anyway, with provisions that require private insurance companies to insure people with pre-existing conditions, and to keep costs and profits to 20 percent of gross sales. Progressives, socialists and communists knew they were in control.